27 February 2012

BLOOMBERG PILES PRESSURE ON THOMSON REUTERS WITH NEXT REDESIGN

Bloomberg's Next redesign of its eponymous Professional desktop terminal marks the culmination of a $100 million, two-year development effort involving more than 3000 programmers.

The company has already rolled out the refreshed product - which offers a refined intuitive interface, richer graphics and analytical tools, and 15,000 fewer functions - to about a third of its installed 313,000 desktop user base at dealing rooms around the world. The company is now embarking on a global marketing effort with the aim of moving all subscribers to the new screens by the end of the year.

In an age when most developers measure user experience (UX) against iPhones, iPads and other consumer-focused products, business applications often seem old and stodgy. Bloomberg LP, the market data powerhouse, has been quietly focusing on UX for three years and has built a high-tech usability lab to gather user data, test and validate new functionality. Wall Street & Technology took an exclusive tour of the Usability Lab last week

The result of some of the testing is Bloomberg NEXT, which is being announced today. Bloomberg NEXT is "a major evolution of the Bloomberg Professional service [the Terminal] that consolidates and integrates data, news and analytics," according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg is set to dramatically escalate its ongoing data battle with Thomson Reuters, as it announces a $100 million redesign of its market data services.

The company, which earlier this month said it was opening its data APIs but maintaining regular data subscription fees, is now simplifying its products, the Financial Times reported. It is aiming to cut complication in its widely-used market data system, while improving usability.

The news comes as Thomson Reuters is understood to be taking aggressive steps to open up its market data on its flagship Eikon system.

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